Electronic Arts has become the second publisher to announce that for future releases they will be more environmentally friendly by eliminating printed manuals and going digital.

The move makes Electronic Arts the second big publisher to follow UbiSoft’s lead and do away with the paper manuals included within future releases. The just-released Fight Night Champion is the first title to go with digital with its manual.

So far, the news has met with mixed opinions from the gaming community at large. Some already have expressed that they will miss the paper manuals, while others have said that they don’t care one way or the other.

Sources tell us that we should expect other publishers to move in this direction going forward, which actually comes as no real surprise; besides being more environmentally conscious, it also saves the publisher the significant cost of printed manuals for each title release.

The Oxford Dictionary which has been the authoritative guide to the English language for a hundred years might be slimmed down to next to near nothing. The full dictionary weighs 60 kilograms, and Oxford University Press, said that the online version is making more cash.

The digital version of the Oxford English Dictionary now gets two million hits a month from subscribers, who pay $US295 a year for the service in the US. The printed version costs £750 and has sold about 30,000 sets.

Lexicographers behind the century-old Oxford English Dictionary are currently revising and updating its third edition which will take another decade. But publishers doubt there will be a market for the printed form by then.

Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, told The Sunday Times he didn't think the newest edition would be printed. "The print dictionary market is just disappearing. It is falling away by tens of per cent a year," he said.